Social Media
Whatever is happening up to the moment, I seem to be in the know. Social media is a split second ability to communicate with both the consumers, and the vendors. If we are at Scopa's having dinner, we can post pics before we even get our entree. At In Vino Veritas, we get people from all over the world. We get both locals and tourists . . . interns and industry. No two days are alike in the tasting room. With social media, I can post albums at multiple websites. With the click of a button, you are there. Events can be produced and edited. Invitations can be sent - literally all over the world. People can be in Italy talking about what we are doing at In Vino Veritas in Healdsburg.
National "Talk like a Pirate" Day
On September 19th, 2010, we will be participating in a Healdsurg Tradition that is near and dear to my heart - National "Talk Like a Pirate" Day. The day starts at 6am on the team itinerary at Goat Rock out by Bodega Bay. The motley crew goes to plunder the high seas at the coastal area of Sonoma county out to the west. The treasure hunt begins and it's back to the Burg for pilfering the local merchants. Wagon in tow to hold the bounty amassed, you never know what the local merchants are going to throw in the kitty. We have chosen a pirate name. My pirate name this year is Black Charity Rackham . . . I plan to live up to this deliciously funny name. You can go to www.talklikeapirateday.com to take the quiz and get a name especially chosen for you! Dressed ye like a wench or cut throat, you will enjoy the escapades of joining in the festivities in the garb of those pirates gone before us. After the morning of treasure hunting, breakfast and a few yo, ho, ho bottles of rum, drinking our way around the Square, it's off to the wine-a-bago tour of specially chosen tasting rooms around Sonoma county. After a well deserved rest, the day resumes back in the Healdsburg where dinner at a local eatery commences followed soon by MORE adult beverages and a bonfire at the river. Join us at In Vino Veritas to participate in your own Talk Like a Pirate Day . . . Details to follow.
Out and About
In Vino Veritas is centrally located just off the Plaza. We say that often, but just what does that mean? We are surrounded by a mecca of experiences that can't be explored in one day. Directly across the street from us is The Raven Theater. We have the best entertainment when it comes to the Arts. Now playing "RENT". And you can enjoy dinner at one of the nearby restaurants. Ravenette has some of the best food around in an intimate atmosphere. Zin, to our right, offers farm to table selections from food grown locally, and has a great wine selection. Have a sweet tooth? Powell's candy and ice cream shop is a personal favorite. They have candy and confections from years gone by, scrumptious ice cream and a pez dispenser selection rivaled by none!
No Place Like Home
What gives a town its essence? Is it a fusion of flavors, like your favorite Veritas Ridge wine? Can you appreciate the under currents of people and places in much the same way you enjoy a good wine?
To me, Healdsburg is a taste of home . . . not limited in potential or placement. We have the best of everything a small town can offer. When the fog kisses the mountain tops early this summer day, I know the clouds will give way to another adventure to be had in the place I love the best.
Home is like that. A place fits like a well worn pair of jeans. They don't quite fit anyone else the same way. It takes time to break them in, but it is soooo worth it. They change to fit your shape, and you change when you wear them. Others may borrow them, but they fit you just right.
A home is made day by day. Friend by friend. Memory by memory. It isn't just a place, but people. People unlike any others in any other place. Hollywood, Hater, Hottie, Harry, Lily, Mario and Millie . . . people who accept you just the way you are and change you FOREVER. You are more for having known them. They become part of your DNA. They leave an imprint that is indelible. They are the sum total of who you are and what you become layer by layer much as the wines that change a bit each season. Just as wine changes with time or decanting, it is something to savor, and it brings your mind in to remembrance.
Is my day going to be fruit forward, jammy with a hint of chocolate poundcake and raspberies like In Vino's Dry Creek Zin? It's like everything you never knew you always wanted. Like Christmas in July or our infamous parades with a plethora of the most uncommon sights ever assembled in one place, but we're in for the duration. Will the Mayberryesque locals come in to say "hi" and linger just a bit longer cause you can't make this stuff up?
Healdsburg is that place to me. Being a local is an honor, a badge to wear proudly as we are all part of this community. The sum total of the whole. I see through new eyes. I live with new traditions chosen through experience and honed with practice to perfection. So like a fine wine and unlike any other.
I hope that you get a taste for Healdsburg that can't be quenched until you experience the fog rolling in on a late afternoon in the dog days of Summer. Harvest is here. New faces, new wines and new experiences for the taking. Each intern, each tourist, each day bright like a new penny. Come spend your time wisely in a place you will never forget. Come experience Wine country in all its glory. Come taste the wine!
Something to Talk About
What are your top five reasons that Healdsburg is your home town? What are the top five reasons, as a tourist, Healdsburg and/or Wine country, became your destination? What keeps bringing you back for "repeat" experiences?
V-A-C-A-T-I-O-N!
It's that time of the year when the events may start to dwindle down a bit. The trickle has begun, but it's also harvest time. A time when the intern sightings are in full view and the crush has begun. People are on the downward spiral to get grapes and produce new wine. It's also a time to take a few days off and explore new horizons. Next week, I go to Phoenix, Arizona and get to experience the desert wonders for just a few days.
I am wondering about a river with no water that is more of a gulch. A place where there is a wagon wheel located in a bar outside the perimeter. Should be a good photo opportunity. Will make me appreciate home all the more, but I am looking to a change of local if only to soak up some sun. Temps should be around 105. Maybe my summer tan will come back one last time.
There was a social media seminar last night that was attended by many in the industry. Tweeting, yelping, and social media were the words of the evening. Coral Mustang's Penny Gaad Coster is the tweet queen, I hear. I am hard pressed to keep up with web pages and the goings on here at Veritas Ridge most days, but I am hoping to get in the "tweet" loop soon.
Next weekend is the "National Talk Like A Pirate Day" celebration at In Vino Veritas. I have the gold coins out and am waiting to be plundered late afternoon by the many local pirates participating. As always, new pics will be up on the facebook and myspace pages . . . Hope to see you there!
Artist Reception
October is a month of many events in the community. At In Vino Veritas, we will be hosting an Artist Reception featuring returning contributor, Paula Smith. Paula, a Sonoma county local, paints wine country landscapes. We are hanging her harvest themed works until mid December. Her reception coincides with The Artrails weekend of October 15th to 17th. We will be open with newly released wines, food, and music along with Paula from 5 until 8 pm on October 15th, 2010. Please check the Facebook fan page for updates.
Open House
It's time for our quarterly Open House. Please join us for a day of food and fun on October 16th, 2010 from 2pm to 6 pm. We have new art in our tasting room and a plethora of things to do locally after you stop in and try our new wines. Harvest time brings a bounty of other local events to sample on the Plaza. Remember, it's always a good day in Healdsburg, so come sample our wares!
Paula Smith
Local Sonoma County artist, Paula Smith, will be featured through December 15th, 2010 in the In Vino Veritas tasting room. The Aritst Reception was successful. We shared our newly medaled Merlots and the house was packed.
Harvest Fair 2010
A lot to update you on this week at Veritas Ridge and In Vino Veritas. Harvest Fair Awards were presented last weekend and we meddled for Bronze for our 2007 Merlot, and Silver for our 2008 Merlot. The harvest fair is at the local Santa Rosa fairgrounds this weekend and is wrapping up this afternoon. We've been there the last 2 days pouring our Merlots. Over 2000 were in attendance just Saturday. Ziggy, the Wine, girl, was at our table schmoozing with Frank Chellig, who is pouring today. Hoping to be able to post pics of all these events and more in the days and weeks to come.
Halloween Events
On October 31st, from 2pm to 5 pm, we will be passing out candy to all the kids coming around after the usual Plaza affair that is held annually from 12 to 2 pm. Come celebrate Halloween and the Harvest season by checking out the art by Paula Smith and sampling some of our award winning Merlots.
Holiday Affair
In mid December, look for up and coming holiday events at In Vino Veritas. We participate in the local Holiday Open House with other Chamber of Commerce merchants located on and around the plaza. There will be cable car rides, the usual horse drawn carriage, as well as many businesses open until 9 pm to kick off the holiday season. Also, Art Trails and ArtWalk will be in full swing and you can view various artists, including our local artist, Paula Smith. Date to be Announced . . .
The Downtown Open House is scheduled for November 26th, from 5pm to 9pm.
Holiday Open House
The Downtown Plaza will be kicking off the Holiday Season with an Open House of local merchants on Novemeber 26th, from 5 to 9 pm. Come join In Vino Veritas in celebrating the season with some wine tasting and holiday fare.
Home for the Holidays
This is a new trail to blaze on the Veritas Ridge website. Often, my blogs don't post where I want them to. Seldom do I create to recreate, again, due to computer issues, but I am hanging in there day by day. A lot has been going on in Healdsurg as the holiday season kicks off today with the Wine and Food Affair weekend. Tourists will be in town all weekend to have wine and food featured in a local cookbook put out by WineRoad and Beth Costa. Hopefully, we will be a participant next year.
With the Holidays comes the ending of the Farmer's Market on Plaza Street, held over through the end of November. We've added a flat screen to the tasting room so you can view your favorite team's weekends and enjoy our wine by the glass - and perhaps a snack or two. On Friday, we will be sponsoring a community baby shower for a local single parent. Our Toys for Tots box is out. And, we were participants in the first ever Orange Fever parade in honor of the Giants baseball team.
On November 26th, stop by during the Downtown Open House and grab a cup of mulled wine and a special treat in celebration of the holiday season. And, don't forget your gift for the toy box. Let's give this season at In Vino Veritas . . . We have Wine with a view and a town with the best group of locals you'd ever want to meet!
Small Town Burg
I am a small town girl. I live in Wine country about an hour from where I grew up in Marin. I learned all about hospitality from my life experiences being enmeshed in this neck of the woods, population 11,000 on a good day when the interns are in town for the season. Where the vines dot the high and low lands. The tourists are a part of the backdrop from the Plaza to the back roads. Where we can get an influx of strangers we, on occasion, adopt like family and our numbers soar by as many as 5,000. It is why every old is new, again. We never know who will come back or who we'll see this holiday season. It makes home the best place to be and as Dorothy says, "There is no place like home."
I call Healdburg the Burg or My Little Mayberry. I often blog about the Island of Misfit Toys, the mix of up and down home people that give flavor to our community like the blend of grapes in a wine. Add sweet or savory spice, berries and undercurrents of essences the nose recognizes - if not the palette. We vary year to year, but the basic flavor still remains. Bold, solid, irresistible. Something to savor.
As an event planner/consultant in the wine industry, "I am only here to help" is something I say often. Having been involved in every facet of tourism from catering, to a bed and breakfast, and with a stint in college for a second time minoring in Culinary Arts, I am amazed to be so heavily involved in social media as well as planning the events that are always so much fun to attend. From March until the winding down of the holiday season with Harvest thrown into the mix, there is a whirlwind of activities on every level right out my own backyard. The river, a rock laden beach, hiking trails with magnificent views and a host of the best restaurants on the planet. Add to that all the local wineries and tasting rooms and our plaza area comes unrivaled with opportunities to taste wine, view outstanding art and shop at one of a kind locations - from clothing to kitchen ware and everything in between. Our Plaza has it all from a place to stay to Music on the Square. A full circle to events that are sure to please in their entertainment value.
Come on out this holiday season with an event sponsored by the Chamber of Commerce. Our downtown Plaza Open House is this Friday. Experience a small town Christmas complete with horse drawn carriage and the center of town abuzz with activity . . . The art galleries, Powell's candy shop, Copperfield's Books and all the places we love so much will be open to entertain and enjoy from 5 to 9 pm.
Community Baby Shower
This is an announcement - if nothing else. The first ever Community Baby Shower was held on November 12th, 2010. On Novemer 14th, Ryan Ethan Edge was born 3 weeks early. The proud grandpa, Brett Edge, is a local to the wine industry at Camillia Cellars located at the Old Roma Station on Frint Street. Mother and baby are doing well . . . Welcome, Baby Edge!
